Managing Flip Effect Monsters in Sealed Pack Play

June 5th, 2012

Monsters like Morphing Jar and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter are already powerful in Advanced Format play. But what happens when you take those same cards, and put them into the controlled environment of Battle Pack: Epic Dawn? You won’t be able to just blast them with Inzektor Hornet or negate their effects with Evolzar Dolkka and continue on without investment or consequence. You actually have to face them head on. Learning how to play around your opponent’s Set monsters is one of the keys to success in Sealed Play.

The most obvious method to protect yourself from Flip Effects is to take the monsters out before they’re flipped up. Most of the monarchs like Zaborg the Thunder Monarch can take care of those monsters before they flip up. If you have Soul Exchange, it can let you take out a second monster in the process! Dark Ruler Ha Des will allow all your Fiend monsters (including himself!) to negate the effects of any monsters they destroy in battle. There are numerous Spells and Traps that can destroy or delay Flip Effect monsters, and the best of the best is Shield Crush, with the ability to pick off any defense position monster without flipping it. (Well, maybe Raigeki is the best of the best, but you’ll see Shield Crush far more often than Raigeki.)

You won’t always have the luxury of destroying Flip Effect monsters so easily, but you can still force them to activate on your own terms. Swords of Revealing Light can force your opponent’s monsters face-up, triggering their effects. If their monster was something like Old Vindictive Magician or Night Assailant, and you have no monsters for it to target, the effect will be wasted! Gaap the Divine Soldier also flips up your opponent’s monsters with its Continuous Effect, and their Flip Effects will not activate! And of course, you can always just attack them. Cards like Penguin Soldier,Morphing Jar, and Cyber Jar are most useful when you can Flip Summon them on your own turn

But what are you to do when these options aren’t presented to you? One of the most important ways to manage Flip Effect monsters is to mitigate the damage they do to your field. Say you’ve got a feeling your opponent has Ryko or Night Assailant face-down, you have no way to deal with it, and you’re certainly going to lose a card to its effect. The best course of action is often to force out that effect with a card you don’t mind losing. If you can attack it with a self-replacing monster like Witch of the Black Forest or something you can get back, like Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite or Vampire Lord, you won’t actually be losing much (if anything!), but your opponent now has one less destructive card! Most Flip Effect monsters have low stats, so you can also take advantage of that DUCKER Mobile Cannon with cards like Exarion Universe or Twin-Sword Marauder.

You may be thinking, “Hey, a lot of these Flip Effects can help against other Flip Effect monsters!” And you’re absolutely right! One of the best examples of this is Penguin Soldier. If you Flip Summon it, it can return another monster and itself to the hand. Then, you just Set your Penguin again to lock your opponent down. Be careful when trying to fight Flip Effects with Flip Effects. If your opponent has their monster Set first, they’ll be able to Flip Summon it first too, and use it against your own monster.

Seeing all these defensive cards isn’t something we’re quite used to in the fast-paced Advanced Format, to be sure. If you’re looking to try a game where DEF and Flip Effects make a big impact, try a few games with Battle Pack: Epic Dawn!